Shinigami's Curse
by Avalon Merquise
Summary: Hilde's hurt really bad... Will she survive? How will Duo cope? PART SIX UP!!! Yet more of Hilde's past in uncovered! LOL, I promise this is going somewhere...
1. PART ONE

"Shinigami's Curse"  
By: Avalon Merquise  
DramaQueen572@hotmail.com  
  
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PART ONE  
  
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"You're a stupid fool!"  
  
Duo's words rang in his ears as he carried the Taurus Cruiser back to Peacemillion. Why did he yell at her? She'd risked her life to help them. To help their cause. He could've at least said thanks before he yelled at her.  
  
God though, she'd scared the crap out of him. Hearing Hilde's terrified voice over the comms as she was being thrashed. Watching her scream in terror still trying to defend herself from the Mercurius and Vayeate mobile dolls. Then he saw her weak, lacerated body. She looked so fragile. Duo wanted to cry.  
  
"Hold on, Hilde, we're almost there," he whispered. His comm link was open, but he wasn't sure if she could hear him.  
  
He reached the massive ship belonging to his old friend Howard and docked his Gundam. He jumped out of the hatch.  
  
Hilde sat back, unable to move. She felt blood trickle down her forehead and down her cheek. She felt blood going down her arms. So much pain. It was worth it though. She'd gotten the disk to Duo. She'd succeeded; her mission was completed. She was in a lot of pain, but she was convinced she'd be fine. After fighting those two mobile dolls on her own, she thought she was a goner. But as she sat there, she felt better. She hurt too much to move, but it wasn't that bad. She'd get better. She was going to be okay. Wouldn't she?  
  
Hilde almost screamed out loud when she felt the slight jolt as they landed. Then she calmed down and opened the hatch. She fumbled around with the latch of her straps, unable to get her bloody fingers to cooperate, when she saw Duo coming up her to her. He jumped up onto the ledge.  
  
"Sit back," he commanded her. She stopped moving and Duo got her out of the straps and picked her up. He carried her out of the severely damaged Taurus cruiser and yelled for someone to go and get Sally Po. Quatre ran to go get her.  
  
Duo held Hilde gently but firmly in his strong arms, careful not to hurt her. He stroked her short blue hair with his right hand and brushed her bangs away from her face. She looked terrible.  
  
Hilde slowly reached into her right pocket and pulled out the disk with a shaky hand. She held it up to Duo. "Here," she whispered. "I hope it helps you guys."  
  
Duo forced a smile. "Let's hope so, babe. You wouldn't wanna have gone through all that for nothin."  
  
"I'm sorry," Hilde whispered, leaning her head against him.  
  
Those two words broke Duo's heart. He choked on trying to find the right words to say to her, but before he figured them out, Hilde opened her mouth again.  
  
"Duo. I met Relena Peacecraft on Libra," Hilde whispered. She coughed and doubled over in pain.  
  
Duo panicked and reached down to help her up. There was blood streaming from her mouth. Duo starting shaking. He prayed silently for Sally Po to hurry up.  
  
Hilde composed herself. "I met Relena Peacecraft," she said hoarsely. "We talked for a long time. She knows one of the Gundam pilots."  
  
"Heero," Duo whispered.  
  
Hilde latched her hands onto Duo's arms, just in case she fainted. Things were getting fuzzy and everyone was starting to rock and sway and spin. She felt like she was on an amusement park ride. And the pain was unbearable.  
  
Suddenly the door opened and Sally rushed in, wheeling a stretcher. She rushed up to Duo. He set Hilde gingerly onto the it.  
  
"I'll be okay, Duo," Hilde said quietly and weakly before she passed out. Duo squeezed her hand and tried to convince himself she'd be okay. He watched in disdain as Sally wheeled her away, with him and the other Gundam pilots watching.  
  
An hour later Duo was waiting anxiously outside of Peacemillion's infirmary. Sally came out.  
  
"How is she?" Duo asked.  
  
Sally bit her bottom lip. Part of the reason she gave up being a military doctor was she hated breaking bad news to people. But, at least this time there was still hope.  
  
"She has a lot of internal injuries and internal bleeding. THere was a concussion and... she just slipped into a coma," Sally reported sorrowfully.  
  
Duo gulped and closed his eyes. He'd been afraid of this. He clenched his hands into fists and tried to keep from murdering Sally. It couldn't be true. Hilde, his sweet Hilde, was in this terrible shape. It had to be another nightmare.  
  
But it wasn't a nightmare. It was horrifyingly real. And it wasn't Sally's fault. He tried to keep his voice calm as he asked, "Will she be okay?"  
  
Sally shrugged. "There's a lot of hope. We're prepping for surgery now. We may have to remove her spleen, but that'll hopefully stop the bleeding. The hard part's going to be getting her out of the coma. She doesn't seem to have any brain damage from the concussion, either, which is good. She's a strong girl."  
  
Duo nodded. "How long will surgery take?"  
  
"Maybe a couple of hours."  
  
"Can I see her after you're done?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
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TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
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So, what do you think? If I get a lot of reviews, I'll post the next part. But if I don't get many, than obviously not enough people are interested, so I won't post the rest. 


	2. PART TWO

PART TWO  
  
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"When's Daddy coming home?"  
  
No one answered.  
  
"Hey!" the 4 -year-old girl exclaimed.  
  
"When the war's over Hilde," her sister Nicole said, not looking up from her book.  
  
"When's the war gonna be over?"  
  
Again, no one answered.  
  
"Nicole!"  
  
"I don't know, Hilde! Quit asking me stupid questions!"  
  
The 14-year-old girl angrily stormed out of the room, trying to hide the tears in her eyes.  
  
"Mommy! Nicole's being mean!" Hilde whined.  
  
Hilde's mother sighed. "Don't pay any attention to her, Hilde."  
  
"Aren't you going to punish her?"  
  
"She's just sad about Daddy leaving."  
  
"She's still being mean."  
  
"She can't help it, honey."  
  
The girl was quiet for a moment, then asked, "Why did Daddy leave?"  
  
"He went to go fight in the war, honey."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"He's trying to defend the colonies."  
  
"What's wrong with the colonies?"  
  
"Some bad people are just trying to control us, honey."  
  
"Is that why they're having a war?"  
  
"Yes, sweetie."  
  
"Stupid meanies. Why can't they leave us alone? I want Daddy to come back!"  
  
Hilde's mother bent down and embraced the child as they both began to cry. "I wanna go with Daddy!" Hilde screamed. "I wanna go fight too!"  
  
"You can't Hilde," her mother cried.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"You're too little, sweetheart."  
  
"I am not!"  
  
"Well, if you go, who's gonna protect me and Nicole? We need our big strong Hilde."  
  
Hilde loved pretending to be a superhero, and she always said she was protecting their family.  
  
"But who's gonna protect Daddy?"  
  
"Daddy can take care of himself, Hilde."  
  
"But he's gonna be lonely."  
  
"I know, Hilde."  
  
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TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
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So, what do you think? If I get a lot of reviews, I'll post the next part. But if I don't get many, than obviously not enough people are interested, so I won't post the rest. 


	3. PART THREE

PART THREE  
  
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Duo walked slowly into the room. He cringed at the sight of Hilde, unconscious on the hospital bed, wired up to machines her life depended on. She had IVs stuck into her hands, and wires stuck to her, leading to machines that monitored her heart rate and her brain waves. A transparent mask was over her face, with a hose leading to the respirator.  
  
"Hilde..." Duo whispered. He never imagined he'd see her like this, barely hanging onto life. She'd always been so vibrant and full of life. Now she was pale and passive.  
  
"Is there anything you can do?" Duo asked Sally.  
  
Sally shrugged. "We've taken care of everything else, the surgery and everything. The coma's the only thing."  
  
Duo sighed and closed his eyes.  
  
"There is one thing we can do," Sally continued. "to get her out of the coma."  
  
Duo opened his eyes and turned to her, but Sally held her hand up and shook her head. She bit her bottom lip. She hated seeing all the hope drain from his violet eyes as his hope diminished. "It doesn't always work," she said, remembering why she was glad she wasn't a full time military doctor any more. "But there is a drug I can inject her with that may bring her back." "Try it," Duo commanded firmly.  
  
"But Duo..."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I don't know anything about her, like what she's allergic to, so if it turns out she is allergic to this, she could go into shock..."  
  
All the color drained from Duo's face. He didn't know if she was allergic to anything either. He realized just how little he knew about her. He wished he'd taken the time.  
  
"And there could be side-effects. Or it could just do nothing."  
  
Duo didn't know what to do. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Either they risked things from the drug, or Hilde stayed in the coma until she died...  
  
"I think we should risk it," he decided finally.  
  
"Are you sure Duo?" Sally asked.  
  
"No. But it's the only thing we can do right now."  
  
Sally nodded. She walked over to the counter and picked up a syringe. She left the room and came back five minutes later with a small vial filled with a transparent liquid. She loaded the syringe.  
  
Duo prayed harder than he'd ever prayed as Sally injected the syringe into the IV. They waited. "It'll take a few minutes for it to get into her system," Sally said.  
  
Sally and Duo waited in silence for a half an hour. Nothing happened. Hilde's brain waves and heart rate remained the same.  
  
"I don't think anything's gonna happen," Sally said.  
  
"Can you give her more?"  
  
Sally shook her head. "Not for a while. It's not affecting the coma, but if she gets too much of it, it could be lethal."  
  
"Isn't there anything else you can do?"  
  
"Well, we could take take her off life support. It might be enough of a shock to bring her back. Or she could die."  
  
"Have you ever done it before?"  
  
Sally shook her head.  
  
"Do you know anyone who has?"  
  
Sally nodded.  
  
"Has it worked?"  
  
"No."  
  
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TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
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Okay, I admit that part was a little like that one episode of The Drew Carey Show but don't kill me!!!  
  
So, what do you think? If I get a lot of reviews, I'll post the next part. But if I don't get many, than obviously not enough people are interested, so I won't post the rest.  
  



	4. PART FOUR

PART FOUR  
  
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Hilde started to pull off her black windbreaker, but as the cool wind chilled her arms, bare on account of the sleeveless white shirt she was wearing, she decided against it and kept it on. She set her heavy backpack down by the door and pulled off her boots.  
  
"Mom? I'm home!" Hilde shouted. There was no answer. Was anyone home? Her mom and Nicole should both be home. Unless...  
  
Ever since her dad left, Hilde had this fantasy that she would come home from school one day and her whole family, including her dad, alive and well, would be sitting at the kitchen table waiting for her. And they'd become one big happy family once again.  
  
Hilde had ran straight to the kitchen after school every day for 5 years after her father left. But he had never been there. Hilde gave up on that 3 years ago. Now she was 12, and her father had been gone almost 8 years to the day.  
  
For about a year after he left, her father communicated with his family from their base, but he said he'd be getting busier and wouldn't have time to talk to them as often. A year and a half after he left, they never heard from him again.  
  
Hilde ran into the kitchen. Maybe he really would be home!  
  
But she stopped abruptly at the sight that welcomed her there. Hilde clutched the side of the entrance. Her mother and older sister Nicole were sitting at the table. No dad. Nicole was back from college. Why?   
  
There was a small piece of paper in her mother's hand, and both of them were crying.  
  
"Hey," Hilde said. "What's going on?"  
  
Her mother looked up. "Your father's dead."  
  
Those three words slammed into Hilde, and she almost fell down. "What?" she whispered in disbelief.  
  
"He died last week when the base was bombed," Nicole sobbed.  
  
Hilde remembered watching the news and hearing about the base being bombed. Seventy percent of the soldiers stationed there were killed, they said, but they were still in the process of finding out who they were. Hilde hadn't thought much of it then. She had no idea where her father was stationed.  
  
"Are you sure?" Hilde asked. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't. He had promised her he'd come home.  
  
They both nodded.  
  
"No!" Hilde screamed. "It can't be him! He said he'd come home. He promised me! They've got the wrong guy!"  
  
"Hilde..." her mom started. She stood up from her chair and came over to embrace her daughter.  
  
"Stop it!" Hilde screamed, breaking away from her mother's arms. "It's not true!"  
  
She ran to the table and picked up the piece of paper. She quickly read it. No. It couldn't be true. They were wrong. They'd made a mistake.  
  
Hilde ran upstairs. She slammed her door and collapsed on the bed. The telegram had said it. They'd confirmed that he was dead. They'd confirmed that they'd had the right body. But they could be wrong, couldn't they?  
  
Hilde suddenly had a new fantasy that her father had escaped from the base, and switched identities with someone else. He had killed one of the enemies and switched identities with him. He was now infiltating them. He would win the war, and he'd be the hero.  
  
Hilde smiled. That's what had happened. She was sure of it. And one day, her old fantasy would come true. She'd come home from school and they'd all be there, and her mother and sister would say she was right, and they'd get on with their lives, and the war would be over, and they'd all live happily ever after.  
  
In the back of her mind, Hilde knew it wasn't true. She knew he was dead. But she couldn't accept that. She had to cling to her fantasy. It was the only thing she could do, until she was 14 and she could enlist in OZ. She'd find out for herself if it was true, that he was dead, and then if he really truly was, she'd finish what he started. She'd fight for him, and she would make sure the war ended.   
  
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TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
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So, what do you think? If I get a lot of reviews, I'll post the next part. But if I don't get many, than obviously not enough people are interested, so I won't post the rest.  
  



	5. PART FIVE

Sorry I was gone so long, peoples. I got major writer's block on this story so I started something new. But, I'm back now so you all can stop worrying! ^_^  
  
N-E-way, I got suggestions to make the chapters longer, so I'm gonna try.  
  
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PART FIVE  
  
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She was gonna die. It was inevitable. There was nothing he could do about it. They'd tried everything short of taking her off life support. But she was too weak for that. He could feel it. She'd been through too much to fight for her life.  
  
So what were they gonna do? They couldn't do anything. She'd stay in the coma until she died unless by some miracle she awoke.  
  
He was cursed. He finally realized it. Everyone he had ever loved had died because of him. Solo, Father Maxwell, Sister Helen, and pretty soon Hilde.  
  
It was his fault too. They were all his fault. If he had let Hilde come with him to Peacemillion in the first place, she wouldn't have snuck onto Libra. It was so ironic. He didn't want her to come because he was afraid for her safety, and then this had happened, worse than anything that could've happened if she had been by his side.  
  
Duo slammed his head back against the wall. Why? Why did he have to be Shinigami? He didn't want to be the God of Death anymore, but he couldn't help it. He didn't want them to die.  
  
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Duo absentmindedly stabbed at his pancakes. He'd been under the fig tree all night, praying for Hilde. He prayed that God would spare Hilde, and that God would forgive him for all the deaths he caused. He told God that he didn't want to be Shinigami anymore.  
  
He felt a little bit better. Praying always calmed him, and he had faith that God would let Hilde live. He had begged God for her life.  
  
When he had woken up that morning after about 3 hours of sleep, he'd felt a little bit better. But then he'd gone to see Hilde again, and all his hopes had crashed once more.  
  
Why? Why Hilde?  
  
Please don't let her die, God. She doesn't deserve it. She shouldn't have to die because she tried to help me.  
  
"Duo?"  
  
Duo snapped back to reality at the sound of Quatre's voice.  
  
"Are you okay?" Quatre asked, concerned, even though he knew the answer.  
  
Duo sighed. "I don't know. No. I'm not okay," he admitted.  
  
Quatre wished he could help. But what could he do? "Do you need anything?"  
  
"Yeah, a miracle," Duo said, standing up and exiting.  
  
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What if she didn't make it? How could he go on with his life if she wasn't in it. Duo recalled the last few months he'd spent with Hilde in his life. She had brightened up his life. He'd hated it, right before he left for Peacemillion, when he told Hilde he had to leave. He couldn't bear not being with her for so long. He'd almost wanted her to come, but then he thought of how close he'd come to losing his life during the war, and he couldn't let that happen to Hilde.  
  
If only I'd let her come. She'd at least have been safer with me.  
  
But Duo realized he wasn't Hilde's boss. He should've known she'd come. Hilde wasn't the kind of person to sit back and let everyone else take care of things for her.  
  
But still, would she have gone to Libra by herself if he'd let her come in the first place? There was no way of knowing. Maybe this was inevitable.  
  
Duo remembered that when he was younger, Father Maxwell had told him that God gave everyone a purpose in this world, and that if you weren't serving your purpose, you were wasting your life. But what happened after you served you purpose? Is that when you died? Was Hilde's purpose to help them with the war effort by briging Peacemillion the data on Libra? She'd done that, and she'd been successful. God hadn't let her die in the fight with Mercurius and Vayeate because she hadn't gotten the disk to them yet. But now she had. Was she gonna die now?  
  
No. It can't be true. God please don't let her die! I won't be able to go on without her! Duo prayed. A tear fell down his cheek, followed by more and more. It was the first time Duo had really cried in years.  
  
Or maybe it was his fault. Hilde was the closet person to him in the world right now. And in the past, the closest people in the world had died because of him. Shinigami strikes again.  
  
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"What are we gonna do, Sally?" Duo asked, back in Hilde's room. He watched as Sally checked up on her, seeing if anything had changed. Noin was also in the room, observing, beside Duo.  
  
Sally sighed. "I'm sorry Duo. I really don't know."  
  
"We can't take her off life support. It'd kill her."  
  
"I agree. She's way too weak for that after her fight with those Mobile Dolls."  
  
"Hilde's a good pilot. But she was up against Mobile Dolls with Heero and Trowa's data programmed into them. It's exactly like fighting two Gundam pilots."  
  
"That's what they had in mind," Noin said. "Normal pilots have a hard enough time fighting one Gundam pilot at a time. They sent Mercurius and Vayeate to gang up on her, knowing she wouldn't stand a chance."  
  
"But she actually was doing pretty well until I showed up," Duo said.  
  
"I'm surprised the girl lasted as long as she did," Noin commented.  
  
"Yeah, but there was no way she could've won if I hadn't shown up," Duo said sadly. "I just wish I could've been there earlier! Damn them! Look what they did to her! They pretty much did kill her!"  
  
Noin bit her lip as she watched the enraged Gundam pilot. Was it Zechs's fault? He was the leader of the White Fang, after all. The war to end all wars. Was this really the way to peace? She stared at the almost lifeless girl in the bed. This couldn't be right. Peace wasn't attained by killing innocent people. Surely Zechs knew that. He only killed people who deserved to die. What was going on? Had Zechs changed?  
  
Noin just didn't understand anymore. She hated this damn war. She was now fighting against the person she loved, watching innocent people die, and for what? Would they succeed? Would world peace really come out of this? Or would it just be meaningless fighting, going on and on, for years? Would it ever end?  
  
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Okay, I'm sorry. So that wasn't much longer than the rest, only about a page more, but I tried! Anyway, like always, review if you want more!  
  



	6. PART SIX

PART SIX  
  
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Hilde stuffed the rest of her things into her bag and slowly zipped it up. She fought back the tears in her eyes as she looked around the room she'd slept in her entire life. She didn't know when she would sleep in it again. But she had to go. She wasn't about to turn back now.  
  
Hilde pulled on her windbreaker and zipped it up. She sighed as she picked up her bag and pulled the strap around her shoulder.  
  
"Here we go..." she whispered to herself, opening the door.  
  
The hallway was calm and empty. The window at the end of the hall was open and sunlight splashed across the carpet. It seemed so peaceful. She wondered if she would ever see this kind of peace again.  
  
She slowly walked down the steps, one at a time, stopping for a few seconds at every one. The last time she would walk down these stairs. She remembered all the times she'd gone up and down these stairs. All the times she'd stumbled and slipped going up or down them. The time she was 6 years old and tripped on a stair near the top, falling all the way to the bottom and breaking her right arm. Hilde sighed as she hit the landing.  
  
Hilde looked around at her home. The home she'd lived in her entire life. The home with 3 small bedrooms and 1 and 1/2 bathrooms. The home whose floors were covered in ugly sea green carpet her mother loved. The home that was made of red bricks. The one that had a small front and back yard and a gray, weather-worn picket fence around the back.  
  
Hilde soaked in everything she saw around her, trying to memorize it in case she never saw it again. She stood for almost ten minutes in the front hallway. Sunlight splashed in through the side windows. The house was so quiet. Nicole was off at school, and her mom wouldn't be home from work for at least 3 hours. That was probably just enough time.  
  
She wished they were home so she could say goodbye to them. But she knew she couldn't. They would never let her go. She was off to enlist in OZ.  
  
The last Monday, the OZ recruiting team had come to town. She went and picked up the forms. She had to forge a lot of it though. She was still 13, but realized she couldn't wait another year. The war was worse than ever, and it looked like it would never end. She really couldn't explain anymore why she wanted to join OZ, but something was driving her. Something told her she HAD to join them. She didn't know if she still believed her father was alive, but she was going anyway.  
  
She knew they wouldn't notice, or if they did, care, that she had forged a lot of the forms. They just needed people. She was only a few months from turning 14, the legal age, anyway. She laughed softly remembering her history lesson the day before, when her teacher told them that only 250 years ago, the legal age was EIGHTEEN. She couldn't imagine having to wait that long.  
  
So this was it. In less than 3 hours, she'd leave her home for who knows how long, and go risk her life to free the colonies.  
  
Last night she'd called Nicole and talked to her for 3 hours. They talked about everything, from how their social and school lives were going, to things in the past. Nicole told Hilde about their dad. Hilde could barely even remember him anymore.  
  
Then Hilde went and spent some quality time with her mom. They baked cookies. She loved baking cookies with her mom. They talked a lot about some of the same things.  
  
Hilde told them both how much she loved them. They reciprocated.  
  
Hilde felt bad about leaving her mom all alone, but Nicole would be graduating in less than a month, then she was moving back to town to be a teacher. Hilde promised herself she would call them as much as possible though. Just like her dad had promised.   
  
Hilde couldn't take it anymore. If she stayed any longer she'd end up changing her mind. She had to go. Hilde pulled open the front door and ran across the lawn. She stopped at the sidewalk and took one last glance at her house. She swallowed to supress the tears welling up inside her. There was a tennis ball-sized lump in her throat and a pit in her stomach, but she tried to ignore it. She tightened her grip on her bag.  
  
"Goodbye," she whispered to her home, as she ran off, leaving it behind.  
  
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Sorry! I tried to make it longer! Just hang tight cuz this story's gonna get *really* interesting! Promise! In the meantime, R/R!!! 


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